Monday, 21 February 2011

Ask Me Anything | Meet Mystic Mug

Perhaps you've heard already: as of tomorrow morning, I'm off.

On holiday, I mean -- not for keeps. The other half and I mean to steal a few idyllic days in the cottage up in Skye before Easter rolls around and and the full rate-paying guests start arriving in droves.

Oh my God, someone colour-balanced Skye!

The deal with the devil we've struck for this particular break means the weather might be piss poor while we take it easy - then again, it might not - but whatever the state of the heavens, at least we'll be able to keep saving for a proper trip abroad. Africa or something like that.

A guy can dream!

Anyway. I've squirrelled away a couple of reviews to go live in my absence - a couple of goodies, too - but I don't want to give you those, no. Not just yet. Instead, I wanted to leave something on the front page for a little while that might be a laugh: an invitation, in short, to Ask Me Anything.

See one of the things I've been thinking, this last little while, is that the blogosphere could totally do with a sort of agony aunt. Ridiculous, right? But so much fun! :D

Terrifying, but not an actual agony aunt.

So someone to tell your deepest, darkest secrets to, or just to take the piss out of; someone to come to when you're struggling to decide whether to read this book or that, or if you should give such-and-such a TV show a go even though it's in imminent danger of cancellation. Someone to ask advice from, or to trade pissy little quips with, if you fancy. And someone to share your idiosyncratic reading habits with - how you can't get through a page without a steaming cup of coffee in hand, or how you have musical themes for each of the fantasy sagas you follow - and ask, Am I a total weirdo, or what?

What I'm imagining is a cross between Mystic Meg, Matt Roush who writes a column for TV Guide each week, and me.

And there we have it: the three Ms of Ask Me Anything.

Actually, the first and only official rule of Ask Me Anything is that there are no rules, so scratch that. Seriously: be an asshole if you like. Disagree with a particularly disagreeable opinion of mine... tell me I suck... ask if it's true what they say about Scottish boxers being too tight. So long as your question either is or could lead to something that's funny, or interesting, pretty much anything goes.

But there's no better way to explain what this silly little thing is than to roll out a couple of exemplars - try before you buy and all that.

Contact Details

TSS will gladly accept books, screeners and early builds for potential articles on the blog. Coverage of some sort is likely but not guaranteed. For more information or to request my postal address, email me via this link.